Happy Valentines Day

photo: espn.go.com

Excuse me if I don't trip over myself trying to climb aboard the Bobby Valentine bandwagon.
Valentine was all smiles this past week as he was introduced by the Boston Red Sox as the 45th manager in the history of the franchise. He was officially introduced last Thursday in a cleverly staged press conference that had all the makings and trappings of a baseball franchise that abandoned their last manager after a still-discussed September collapse that saw the Red Sox go from World Series threats to imploding choke artists. The press conference included a front office-led ovation and ended with a photo opportunity that showed Valentine and members of the front office and ownership in an "all-in" pose.

Spare me.

Leave it to the Boston Red Sox to be full of drama and cliffhangers even in the offseason. I thought all that was in the past. Wasn't this new ownership? Was this not a media-savvy ownership that new how to make the right moves and didn't have to rely on public relation ploys when it came to putting a viable product on the field.

The hiring process started well enough. There were four, maybe five candidates brought in to speak with General Manager Ben Cherrington. None of them were blockbuster names but neither was Terry Francona when he was selected before the 2004 season, the season that saw the Red Sox win their elusive world championship. Dale Sveum knew the team. He was Francona's bench coach with the Red Sox. Gene Lamont was a viability with experience. None of them brought cachet to the position but this is the Boston Red Sox. This is a team whose front office has put out a competive team year after year with legitimate chances to appear in the postseason. Fans, real fans, know it takes more than just a big name in the office to make a team a winner and draw a better attendance.

Ownership saw differently. Principal Owner John Henry described the Red Sox reasoning for hiring Valentine thus:

"Valentine is] the right man at the right time for this particular team. We're set to win. We should've won last year. We're built to win. We thought, in the end, that Bobby was the person most capable of taking us to where we want to go in 2012 and 2013. We're not at a point right now where we're building for the future. We are trying to win now. We always try to do both, but we felt he was the right person at the right time for this team."

Translation: "We were odds-on favorites to represent the American League in the World Series but that didn't happen because certain players were too stupid and lazy to play a whole season. We pissed off a lot of people, especially the Pink Hats. We were afraid we wouldn't sell tickets next season if we had a team with certain returning players so we didn't want to take a chance on bringing in someone who may not be a marquee name, even though that's what we did seven years ago and we ended up winning two world championships in four years."

This front office has had a reputation of making all the right moves. Even ideas that seemed questionable (seats over the Green Monster and right field pavilion) teurned out to be great moves that looked like they've always been there. September was a calamity for Terry Francona and his players and I am sure everyone would like to forget it. Unfortunately, this is something that requires people to address the situation and face it head-on. Fans are too smart to think a big-name manager is the answer to problems. It's nothing more than a bandage.